A skull stared back. Endo’s voice rang hollow from exposed bone. “Neither Susumu nor the monastic orders shall hear from the Daigotsu for a time. You have your own savior, though you do not know it yet.”

Yeah Shibatsu seems like to obvious a choice for savior when he said 'you don't know it yet'. But whom else it could be will be a ton of fun to uncover! Maybe the untainted Gyushi crew hang out with the Susumu and the Monks.

Point of Order: Yasuki Kyoko was NOT the Crab Ringer. Very much a player.

We refer to Yasuki Kyoko as a ringer not in terms of her being played by Staff. She was a ringer because she was built exploiting Different School: Shiba and Reincarnation: Iajutsu to make the single most optimized duelist, point for point at her XP level.

In fact, part of the reason I love Atsushi's victory over her? Is because it shows perfectly that the dice in L5R RPG are a cruel, capricious mistress. You can exploit all you want, all you will swing is the average roll. When your life is on the line for a single roll, you never know what will happen.

Point of Order: Yasuki Kyoko was NOT the Crab Ringer. Very much a player.

We refer to Yasuki Kyoko as a ringer not in terms of her being played by Staff. She was a ringer because she was built exploiting Different School: Shiba and Reincarnation: Iajutsu to make the single most optimized duelist, point for point at her XP level.

In fact, part of the reason I love Atsushi's victory over her? Is because it shows perfectly that the dice in L5R RPG are a cruel, capricious mistress. You can exploit all you want, all you will swing is the average roll. When your life is on the line for a single roll, you never know what will happen.

^ This!

I had to have someone who understood the rules (because I sure as hell didn't) explain what was up. Now that I understand the rules more... YEAH she was crazy good. I thought Atsushi was a goner.

We refer to Yasuki Kyoko as a ringer not in terms of her being played by Staff. She was a ringer because she was built exploiting Different School: Shiba and Reincarnation: Iajutsu to make the single most optimized duelist, point for point at her XP level.

It was more getting the +1k0 Prodigy bonus for Iaijutsu (normally costs 12 points) for 6 points through Reincarnated by abusing the fact that Shiba Bushi does not come with Iaijutsu as a School Skill while still being one of the "best" dueling schools. Neither Mirumoto Bushi nor Kakita Bushi (the other best duelist schools) are able to pull that off. I would have been pissed if one of the Phoenix Shiba Bushi had done this.

Is that really much different from buying Touched by the Realm: Yomi and naming Iaijutsu? Or even just being a Kakita Bushi/Doji Warrior-Poet? Both of those grant a further +1k0 to the roll (either permanently or when you spend Void, which comes to much the same thing).

_________________As for the rest, I am of the opinion that the Otomo must be destroyed.

Reincarnated is 6 points to Touch of the Spirit Realms - Yomi which is 7 points.

Add to that the ability to recover Void in mid duel, effectively allowing a Shiba Bushi with Void 4 to spend 2 Void on the Assessment, recover 1, 2 Void on the Focus, recover 1, and then have Void to spend in the Strike round.

For the same cost as the Kakita Bushi with the Doji Warrior-Poet, the Shiba Duelist has the edge in the Assessment phase, which can shore up the gap in the Focus phase. Before they releasted the Doji Warrior-Poet, the Shiba Bushi Duelist at Rank 3 could actually outduel by the dice a Kakita Bushi. Doji Warrior-Poet closed the gap. The Shiba Bushi can still spend 2 Void on their Damage roll, however. Admittedly, the Crane will get more Free Raises if they win.

Personally, I would still choose Prodigy over Reincarnated any day of the week, but that's because 7 Skills at +1k0 is worth 12 points. And neither of these are counting for Empire Rests on its Edge.

Does the Shiba Void-recovery technique actually work during a duel? It refers to "during combat" and skirmishes, and a duel is explicitly not a skirmish. Does it still count as combat?

Aside from that - even if the Shiba wins Assessment, that only ("only") takes them to 10k9+4, still short of the Kakita (by a mighty 3). If they don't win Assessment, then they're further behind. That they can get an extra +1k1 to their damage roll (assuming they get to recover the necessary amount of Void) is a fair point, but as you say, the Kakita gets more Free Raises, and in any case the difference is, like, 5k4+4 vs 6k5+4 (assuming they allocate the Centre Stance bonus to damage, which they should be doing if the duel is to the death); a notable difference, but not a decisive one compared to having the edge on Focus and therefore getting to hit first.

I am pretty meh on Prodigy, myself. If you expect to use all of your School skills, then maybe - but spending nearly all of your starting XP for Advantages on it (assuming that your game does the common thing and caps that at 15) means giving up a lot of other potential goodies.

The thing that I found eyebrow-raising about Kyoko was that she was made in merry disregard of the GM advice posted against pushing the limit of how good it's possible to be at duelling. OTOH, our delegation contained a homebrew who was similarly specialised in being the best possible Kakita Bushi, so... the real problem was with that advice in the first place, which was silly. Especially all the bits about how "if you're too good at duelling, no-one will agree to duel you!" and "if you're too good, they may sabotage you!" If no-one's willing to challenge you or accept your challenges, then congratulations: you win. And anyone inclined to sabotage you before the duel will do that anyway; duelling is chancy enough that if you have the ability to tilt the scales in your favour, you absolutely should. As Kyoko learned to her cost.

_________________As for the rest, I am of the opinion that the Otomo must be destroyed.

Well, on the flipside - what else are you spending your XP on? Most skills at WC don't come up. Combat happens if you follow one of those subplots, a few artsy skills will come up when there's a relevant competition, there are investigative subplots... there are other things to spend your XP on if your interests lie in that direction, but if they don't? A single duel can massively change the course of events. Maximising your chance to win those when they come up is a perfectly rational way to go, even if you can't guarantee it.

_________________As for the rest, I am of the opinion that the Otomo must be destroyed.

As a GM of L5R RPG for over a decade now, I have seen the Luck advantage win more duels than any other single Technique, Advantage, or Kata. If you want to be a duelist, and you want something to spend your XP on? Spend it on Luck. Seriously. I have never seen anyone not enjoy the ability to take the best out of two, three, or four rolls, especially when you are rolling at the 10k level and your life is balanced on that single roll.

Personally, I would love to see a duelist using Dark Paragon: Insight to get the +5 and reroll on the Assessment phase, as well.

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